Google's Sundar Pichai Calls US Remedies 'De Facto' Spinoff of Search (moneycontrol.com) 21
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai told a judge who found that Google illegally monopolizes online search that a Justice Department proposal to share search data with rivals would be a "de facto" divestiture of the company's search engine. From a report: If Google were required to share both its search data and the information on how it ranks results, rivals could reverse engineer "every aspect of our technology," Pichai testified on Wednesday.
"The proposal on data sharing is so far reaching, so extraordinary," Pichai said. It "feels like de facto divestiture of search" and its entire intellectual property and technology over 25 years of research, he said. During testimony in federal court in Washington, Pichai asserted that a package of antitrust remedies proposed by the government is too extreme and will undermine Google's ability to compete in the market.
"The proposal on data sharing is so far reaching, so extraordinary," Pichai said. It "feels like de facto divestiture of search" and its entire intellectual property and technology over 25 years of research, he said. During testimony in federal court in Washington, Pichai asserted that a package of antitrust remedies proposed by the government is too extreme and will undermine Google's ability to compete in the market.
Microsoft Edge (Score:2, Interesting)
Re: (Score:1)
Why don't the Judge order Microsoft to divest Edge and Bing from the Desktop. On every update they are there rising from the undead.
You think Edge or Bing constitute a monopoly?
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
M$ certainly was a monopoly in the web-browser. In excess of 95%. The US depts didn't seem to care all that much back then.
Ironically, it took all of Google's strength to knock M$ back.
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Because Edge is 5% of the market share. https://gs.statcounter.com/bro... [statcounter.com]
The sad part is Samsung’s browser is beating Firefox.
Too bad (Score:5, Insightful)
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Data sharing is stupid. (Score:2)
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Sure, but that's the economic foundation of all the "free" services you get through the web. They're "free" for the same reason abattoir services are free to cows.
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Sure, but that's the economic foundation of all the "free" services you get through the web. They're "free" for the same reason abattoir services are free to cows.
Because cows have discretionary income?
Because cows' credit scores are valuable information?
Wait, I've got it, because cows subscribe to YouTube.
Re: (Score:1)
Correction (Score:3)
antitrust remedies proposed by the government is too extreme and will undermine Google's ability to compete in the market
FTFY:
antitrust remedies proposed by the government is too extreme and will undermine Google's ability to completely dominate the market
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Dammit, you beat me to it. Your post is almost verbatim what I was ready to type.
On the plus side, confirmation and affirmation are good. If you and I thought of it, then let's hope the Justice Department also thinks of it - and has the courage to act accordingly.
Wrong approach (Score:3)
Don't ask Google to share their search. PROHIBIT them from some forms of collection and sharing.
Almost everything on the Internet has Google involved. And they monetize that.
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Ban the tracking! Put the ad revenue back on level footing.
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I'm all for banning tracking... if it applies to *EVERYONE*.
But banning only Google from that... just ensures that someone else (and likely much worse!) will take Google's place.
The problem is that search is on a downward spiral (Score:2)
The problem is that google search now sucks. I guess that is probably specifically because they have become a search monopoly, so that just cram more and more commercial material into the results.
Either that or they are simply losing the battle against search engine optimizes.
SEO is the new spam. Who cares what the user types into the search box. Let's just make sure our results pop up prominently.
Duck Duck Go search also sucks for the same reasons.
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Google became evil (Score:2)
boo hoo hoo (Score:4, Insightful)
If Google were required to share both its search data and the information on how it ranks results, rivals could reverse engineer "every aspect of our technology,"
If Google hadn't engaged in deliberately anticompetitive behavior, none of this would be happening. Sundar Pichai was in charge for how much of that? Boo, hoo, fucking hoo.